


The Demon Inside

by Dragoneel22



Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Canon-Typical Violence, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku-centric, Not Beta Read, Tags will Update as the Story Develops, U.A. is a University (My Hero Academia)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 16:26:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21172805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoneel22/pseuds/Dragoneel22
Summary: Quirks.Almost everyone has one. Superpowers that were once thought to exist soley in fiction.These powers serve to give people their place in the world, whilst simultaneously setting them apart from their peers.When Izuku Midoriya finally gets his quirk, it's more than he ever could've hoped for. But in the end, will this be good thing? Or will it cause more harm than good?





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> This is another MHA crossover fic. There won't be any specific lore brought over from Naruto. The only concept that I included is the existence of the nine-tailed-fox Kurama.

Quirks. The phenomenon that society revolved around.

Villains, with powers that allowed them to wreak havoc. 

And heroes, with powers that enabled them to step up to meet them.

Children would excitedly wait for their fourth birthday, when their quirk would develop, finally giving them their place in society while simultaneously setting them apart from their peers. Every child would hope for a quirk that allowed them to become a hero.

And those that didn’t have quirks at all were shunned and beaten down by a society that, barely two centuries beforehand, was just as powerless.

So yes, the world revolved around quirks.

Izuku Midoriya was one of those children. Waiting with bated breath for his quirk to develop.

His best friend, Katsuki Bakugou-or Kacchan, as Izuku called him-had already gotten his. He had been defending Izuku from another kid, a year older than them, when suddenly, small pops and explosions began forming from his palms. This had drawn the attention of the teacher, who quickly chased away the bully.

Now it had been almost nine months since that day, about six months since Izuku’s own birthday, and he was still waiting for his quirk.

What’s worse is that he’s been watching Kacchan change. It’s been subtle, slow, so not many people had noticed, but this was his best friend, the changes were obvious to him.

Ever since he got his quirk, Bakugou had been growing more and more arrogant with every compliment and every bit of praise he got. So much so, that he had begun to look down on other children; viewing himself as above them all. He was even starting to bully some of the ones with quirks that he thinks are ‘weak’ or ‘useless’.

Bakugou hadn’t even noticed that the bully he’d been fighting on the day his quirk developed, was now following him around joining in on all the bullying.

So far, Bakugou hadn’t done anything to Izuku, hadn’t targeted him for not having a quirk. But he had left him behind; completely ignoring him and leaving him out of any games he played. The only time he even interacted with Izuku at all was when he tried to stop Bakugou from bullying someone else. He’d tell Izuku to shut up, and that they deserved it for being weak.

Now, Izuku was on his way out of the school after the end of another day. He had just walked out through the main doors when he felt something weird in his mind. It felt tingly, almost fuzzy. It was anger, not his own, but someone else’s.

Even weirder; the feeling was moving. It started in the left side of his head, but when he turned in that direction, it moved to the front. It was directing him; whatever this new feeling was, it was pointing him towards something.

Curious as to what it was, he followed it, walking in the direction it was pointing him. He rounded the corner, coming to the side of the school building, and found the source of the new feeling.

Bakugou and two of his ‘friends’ were standing over another kid, who was lying on the ground. He had a triumphant smile on his face, small explosions popping from his hand as he looked down at his victim. Said victim was nursing a nasty burn on his shoulder and had tears pouring down his face, either from pain or fear.

Just as it looked like Bakugou was going in for another strike, Izuku ran forward, placing himself between him and the kid on the ground.

“Stop it Kacchan!” He yelled. “He didn’t do anything to you!”

A sneer grew on Bakugou’s face as he looked at Izuku. “So what? We’re teaching him his place. He’s weak and useless and he needs to remember that.”

“You- You’re being a bully Kacchan. You need to stop.”

Bakugou’s sneer quickly morphed into a scowl at Izuku’s words. “Oh? And are you gonna stop me? ‘Cause you’re just as weak as him. You’re just a useless Deku.”

Izuku’s breath caught at that. This was the first time Bakugou, his friend, had ever said anything like that to him. The kid on the ground quickly got up and ran away, not even looking back.

“Y-You don’t mean that Kacchan.” Surely, he didn’t, he was just caught up in the moment.

“Of course I do, _Deku_. You’re weak and useless. You don’t even have a quirk yet. Maybe you’re quirkless.”

“N-No I’m not Kacchan. I’ll have a quirk; it just hasn’t shown up yet.”

“No you won’t, stupid Deku. You’re gonna be quirkless and useless forever.” His scowl grew darker. “Maybe we should teach you a lesson too, since you seem to think that you can stop me even though you’re so weak.”

“Wait, Kacchan s-stop!” He yelled, as Bakugou stepped forward. An explosive palm shoved him, burning him in the same spot as the other kid had been.

Izuku stumbled back a few steps, uniform smoking. He saw Bakugou walk towards him, ready to hit him again. He was about to turn and run away, when he felt something inside of him _shift_.

His vision suddenly became sharper, followed by his hearing. He felt something weird happening with his ears and his fingers felt warm and tingly, as did his lower back.

Before he could think about it too much, Bakugou’s hand was rushing towards him once more. But something was wrong; it was a lot slower than it should’ve been. Izuku watched it as it moved through the air.

Then, his body seemed to move on its own, instinct or something else taking hold. He reached out and grabbed Bakugou’s wrist, twisting it to the side. The explosion that had been meant for him, instead detonated off to the side. He could see that the hand wrapped around Bakugou’s wrist, his hand, had inky black claws where the fingernails were supposed to be.

He felt anger rush through him, hot and volatile. Bakugou, the person who was supposed to be his best friend, was attacking him and trying to hurt him. Why was he being such a bully? Such a villain?

“Kacchan.” He said, surprised at his own voice; it was a lot deeper than it was supposed to be. “I said _stop_.”

* * *

Katsuki was getting annoyed. He and the others, the annoying extras who tagged along behind him wherever he went, had been trying to teach this weak nobody their place, when that useless nerd jumped in to try to stop him.

The nerd, Deku, had tried to tell Katsuki to stop; that he was being a bully. Who did he think he was? Thinking that someone as weak as him could tell Katsuki what to do.

He’d been nice to the nerd so far, waiting for him to get his quirk so that they could go back to being heroes together, but he was getting impatient. He still hadn’t gotten his quirk yet, even though it had been six months since his birthday. Maybe he was quirkless, the weakest of the weak; worse even than the people with useless quirks.

Maybe he just needed to teach Deku a lesson, show him that no matter what, he’d always be weaker than Katsuki. Show him that no matter what he did, he’d always be useless.

So, he did. Ignoring the nerd’s pitiful yells for him to stop. He used his quirk, burning the stupid nerd’s uniform. Deku had a look in his face, shock and hurt at what Katsuki had just done. Up to this point he’d never done anything to him, even when Deku tailed behind him like one of the extras and tried to stop him from showing someone their place.

He stepped forward to hit Deku again, palm popping in preparation. However, when he sent his hand forward, something caught it and he felt his wrist being twisted harshly to the side.

It was Deku. The nerd had a different look on his face now. Anger and fierceness that he’d never been able to show on his useless, timid face before. His hand had claws, black and menacing, that were a hairsbreadth away from digging into his arm. Katsuki could see fuzzy ears sprouting from the top of the nerd’s head and a long fluffy tail, the same green as his hair, hanging from his lower back.

And his eyes.

His eyes were a deep bloodred. Filled with more anger than Katsuki could comprehend. His pupils were black slits.

“Kacchan.” He heard Deku growl. His voice deeper and more gravely than it should’ve ever been. “I said _stop._”

The sound of his voice combined with the look in his eyes triggered Katsuki’s fight or flight instincts. He lashed out with the hand that wasn’t being restrained, aiming for the head this time.

But, like the other, this hand was caught before it could hit anything. A growl ripped out of Deku’s throat, primal and angry. Katsuki looked behind Deku to see another tail join his first. The claws on the hands holding his wrists started to grow even longer.

Katsuki started to panic. Both of his attacks being blocked so easily made him feel powerless, and that feeling did not sit well with him. He tried to jerk his hands out of Deku’s grip, to no avail. The nerd was like a stone wall right now, not budging an inch.

“Let me go you useless Deku!” He yelled, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

“Stop bullying people Kacchan.” Deku said, in that same growling voice.

“What are you talking about!? Just let me go!”

“Stop bullying people.” He repeated. “If you want to be a hero, then you’ll stop. Right now, you’re acting like a villain.”

With that, the nerd finally let go of Katsuki’s wrists. Since he had still been struggling to pull away, the suddenness of his release sent him falling back on the ground.

One of the useless extras shouted out from behind him. “Shit! Let’s get out of here! C’mon Bakugou!”

Ignoring them, he scrambled back to his feet. He looked at Deku as he backed away slowly. The nerd was still staring at him with that same look in his eyes. Without another word, to Deku or the two extras, he took off running. He rounded the corner, to the front of the school. He could hear the extras shouting after him, but he didn’t stop, he didn’t stop running until he made it back home and was safely inside.

* * *

Izuku was panicking. It had been a few minutes since Bakugou and the other two bullies ran away. Now that he was starting to calm down, his thoughts were quickly beginning to spiral out of control as he replayed the events of the last several minutes.

“Okay so I actually stood up to Kacchan and saved the other kid and I finally got my quirk. And ohmygosh I actually have my quirk now, it looks like some kind of dog transformation. But that’s not important I can’t believe I just attacked Kacchan! I just attacked him and he’s probably so mad at me! I’m probably gonna get in tr-”

_“You didn’t attack him, Runt.” _He was pulled from his thoughts by a voice.

“What? Who said that?” He questioned, unable to determine the source of the voice. “And what do you mean I didn’t attack him? I just did!”

_“I said that.” _The voice replied. _“And no, you didn’t. He attacked you. All you did was stop him from hitting you.”_

“Hmm. I guess that makes sense.” He relented. “But wait. Where are you? Why can’t I see you?”

_“Because I’m not out there. I’m in your head.”_

“Huh? In my head? What does that mean?” He thought about it for a moment, before realization sparked. “Wait a minute. Are you my quirk?”

_“Obviously, Runt.” _The voice said, sounding amused. _“How else would you have been able to catch that kid’s hands before he hit you?”_

“That was you?” He asked, recalling how his body seemed to move on its own to stop Bakugou’s attack.

_“Of course. I wasn’t about to just let you get hit.”_

Izuku smiled, feeling the protectiveness radiating from the – whatever it was – his quirk. He took a moment to examine the changes to his body.

The claws on his fingertips were about half an inch in length and looked razor sharp. It was a wonder that he hadn’t cut Bakugou when he’d grabbed him. Then again, if the voice in his head was the one controlling it, then maybe he’d made sure that Bakugou didn’t get hurt.

He touched the top of his head, feeling the new pointed ears that were present there; they felt soft. Looking behind him, he noticed the long, fluffy tail sprouting from his tail bone. But, something felt off. For some reason, it felt like he was missing something. When he was defending himself from Bakugou, it had felt like he’d had a second tail. Was that why he felt off?

_“You did have a second tail. But it’s gone now that you’ve calmed down.” _ The voice in his head answered his unspoken question. _“It’s not gone forever. It’ll come back if you need it again. Or once you’ve learned to control it.” _

“Huh. Okay.” It still felt off; not having the second tail. But the voice said it could come back, so it must be okay. He trusted the voice in his head, even if he only became aware of it a few minutes ago.

Izuku wanted to know why the second tail even appeared in the first place, and if there were more tails beyond that. He was about to ask, when he had another realization.

“Mom.” He said out loud. “I almost forgot about mom! I need to go home and tell her that I finally got my quirk!”

With that, he hurried home. It seemed to take less time than usual for him to run home. His legs seemed to carry him faster than they used to.

Because of this, it wasn’t long before he was walking through the door into the apartment that he and his mom lived in.

“Mom!” He called out excitedly as soon as he opened the door. “Mom!”

“Izuku?” His mom responded from within the apartment. “Izuku, sweetheart. What is it?” She entered the kitchen with a slightly concerned look on her face that quickly vanished, replaced by one of surprise upon taking in his expression and the new features adorning him.

“Mom! I got my quirk today!” He announced with a huge smile on his face.


	2. An Appointment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku has a doctors appointment to talk about his quirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this fic will have a specific upload schedule. At the very least, I will try my best to have one chapter per week.

Inko and Izuku Midoriya were in the car, driving down the road. After Izuku had arrived home the day before and announced the arrival of his quirk, and the two had spent several minutes hugging in the middle of the kitchen, Inko called to schedule a doctor’s appointment for the very next day. Luckily, there were always doctors available for appointments concerning sudden quirk manifestations. Otherwise, they would’ve had to wait a bit before they could have it.

In the backseat of the car, Izuku was staring off into space as he absentmindedly ran his fingers along his teeth. Last night, when he’d gone to brush his teeth, he’d discovered that all of his teeth were now pointed, sharing the same canine qualities as the other new features of his body.

As to why he was staring into space, he’d found out that he could enter into his own mind, almost as if it were a physical place. Doing so allowed him to speak face-to-face with the voice in his head.

He made this discovery after he fell asleep last night. The voice had dragged him into the mind space, almost like it was a dream.

Now, he was doing it again, relaxing his mind until his surroundings faded away and were replaced by the scenery of his mind. For the most part, it was an empty field of grass, extending out as far as the eye could see. There was a sky above, which seemed to mimic the night sky; full of an infinite number of stars.

Then there was the voice itself.

The first time he saw them, he’d almost screamed in shock and fear. The only thing stopping him was the sense of familiarity he felt when he looked at them; it felt as if he’d known them his entire life, even if he was only just now seeing them for the first time.

They held the image of a giant fox; walking on all fours. They were huge, towering over Izuku; at their full height, they probably measured at 100 meters tall. Their fur was completely green, except for the black strips that surrounded their eyes and extended back to its inner ears. Their eyes were huge, matching up to the rest of their size; they were bigger than Izuku’s entire body. They were bloodred, save for the flecks of green spread throughout that matched his own eyes, and had black slits for pupils.

The most noticeable feature, however, were the nine sweeping tails it had behind them. The tails were almost identical to his own, the only differences being the size and the number. 

As he entered the mind space, he directed his attention to the giant fox. They were lying down, head resting on their arms. Izuku would’ve thought they were asleep, were it not for the fact that they had one large, red eye open and watching him.

“Hello, Runt.” They greeted, not moving from their position.

“Hi!” Izuku shouted, running up to the fox. Once he was close enough, he clambered up onto a huge clawed hand, before making his way up the arm, towards their face.

“We’re on our way to the doctor’s.” He announced. “So we can tell them about my quirk.”

“Hmph.” Came the reply. “You shouldn’t have to tell them anything. The only thing it’ll achieve is catching unwanted attention and letting people know everything about you.”

Izuku thought for a moment. “But Mom says that we have to. That you have to tell the doctors when you get your quirk. We have to listen to her.”

The fox let out a chuckle. “Can’t argue with that, I suppose. She is the boss.”

Izuku smiled, happy that they agreed with him, before he realized something. “Oh yeah, I forgot to ask yesterday. But what’s your name?”

“My names Kurama, Runt.”

“Hmm. Kurama.” He mused, almost testing the name. “I like it!”

“I’m glad. Otherwise things would’ve become awkward, seeing as that’s my name.”

After that, they spent the next several minutes in silence, Izuku running his hands through the soft fur on Kurama’s face.

Eventually, Kurama broke the silence. “Hey, Runt. You might want to wake up. Your mother is trying to get your attention.”

“Huh? Oh.” He responded, noticing the sounds of the real world. “Okay! Bye Kurama!”

He could hear Kurama chuckling as the mind space faded away, replaced by the real world once more.

“Izuku, honey.” His mom was lightly shaking him in his seat. “It’s time to wake up. We’re here.”

Izuku opened his eyes. His mom was looking at him, smiling. “Come on, honey. It’s time to go see the doctor.”

Nodding, he climbed out of the car, yawning as he did. Had he actually fallen asleep? It certainly felt like he’d just woken up from a nap.

He followed his mom as they made their way into the building. The receptionist greeted them with a smile as they entered. “Hello there. Are you Ms. Midoriya? Here about Izuku’s quirk?”

“That’s correct. His quirk manifested yesterday.”

“That’s wonderful!” She checked something on her computer. “You can head straight back; the doctor can see you right away.”

“Thank you.” His mother responded. Then, looking down at him, “Are you ready Izuku?”

“Yeah!” He was practically bouncing.

“Alright, let’s go.”

They made their way back to the office. As they opened the door, they were greeted by a bald man with a fluffy mustache and odd goggles covering his face. “Ah! Ms. Midoriya, come in. My name is Doctor Tsubasa.” He knelt down to Izuku’s height. “And you must be Izuku. I hear that you just got your quirk recently.”

“Yeah1 I got it yesterday!”

“That’s great! That’s what you’re here to talk about.” He said, returning to his desk. “Some aspects are certainly obvious; if I were to make a guess based purely on observation, I’d say that it’s a wolf mutation, or maybe a fox, certainly something canine. But I’d like to hear you talk about it before I make any assumptions. What can you tell me about your quirk?”

Izuku thought for a moment. “I think it did something to my eyes and ears. Everything sounds louder than it used to and looks brighter than before, and I could see in the dark last night after I turned off the lights.”

“Enhanced senses then? That’s to be expected; it’s common for most animal mutation quirks to give enhanced senses in some form or another. What about smells and tastes?” He asked. “And Touch? Does it feel different when you touch things?”

He nodded. “Stuff smells stronger than before. And dinner tasted sorta weird yesterday. But I don’t think stuff feels different.”

“Interesting. What else can you tell me?”

“Umm. Oh! I think it makes me stronger!” He said. “I was able to catch Kacchan’s hand really easy when he tried to hit me yesterday. And I was running really fast when I went home.”

His mom cut in at that. “Wait. Katsuki tried to attack you? Is that why your uniform was singed?”

“Yeah. He was bullying another kid, so I tried to make him stop. But he tried to hit me instead.”

Seeing the look on his mom’s face, he continued quickly. “But it’s okay! He only hit me once. I caught him the other two times.”

“Interesting.” The doctor remarked. “So, you were confronting this Katsuki child when your quirk manifested?”

“Yeah. My voice sounded really weird when I tried to talk to him, and I had a second tail!”

“Really?” The doctor looked slightly surprised at that. “You had a second tail? Do you think you can show us?”

“Uh, I don’t know. I’m not sure why it even showed up.” _‘Do you know why it showed up, Kurama?’_

_“Of course I do, Runt. I _am_ your quirk, remember?”_

_‘Oh yeah! I forgot. Do you think you can help me show them the second tail?’_

_“Sure thing.”_

A moment later, he felt a warm sensation at the base of his tail. He looked back to see another one, identical to the first, sprout from his tailbone. Both seemed to grow longer than before as it arrived.

“Remarkable.” He heard the doctor say. “Izuku, look at me for a moment.”

He complied.

“Your eyes flashed red before the tail emerged. It looks like they’ve stayed that way. It also looks like your claws are a bit longer than before.”

He brought his hand up to his face to inspect them. As the doctor said, his claws did seem longer than they were before. He could see that he also now had paw pads on the tips of his fingers.

“Hmm. It looks like my theory of your quirk being a simple mutation was wrong. It would seem that it’s more of a transformative one. But it doesn’t seem like it matches up with any animal currently in existence; I can’t think of any animal that would naturally have more than one tail.” He thought for a moment. “Izuku? Do you know if you can have another tail?”

“I don’t know.” He responded. His voice sounded deeper again, not as much as it did the day before, but it was still distorted. _‘You have lots of tails, Kurama. Does that mean I can have more than two?’_

_“You could have all nine, eventually. Not now though. You probably wouldn’t be able to handle all of it. I could help you with the third if you want, but you’ll be tired afterwards.”_

“Kurama says I could have all nine. But he also said that I shouldn’t do that yet, it might be too much.”

“Oh? Who’s this Kurama? And how does he know about your quirk?”

“Kurama _is_ my quirk.” Izuku responded. “He’s in my head. He’s a giant fox, with lots of tails. He says that I can show you the third tail if you want to see it.”

“If you think you can, then yes, I would like to see it.”

“Okay.” Then, in his mind. _‘Kurama. Can you help me again?’_

_“Of course.”_

Like the last time, he felt a warm sensation at the base of his spine. Only, this time, the warm feeling also encompassed his hands and forearms as well as his legs. A third tail joined the first two. Once again, they all grew as the new one emerged; they were now each as long as he was tall.

He heard him mom gasp. “Izuku! Your hands!”

Confused, he looked down to find the cause of her reaction. He saw that both of his hands were now covered in dark green fur; the same color as his tails. The fur continued up both of his arms, stopping at his elbows. Looking further, he could see similar fur reaching up to his knees.

“Woah.” He whispered, amazed by the new changes. The fur – his fur – looked just like Kurama’s, as did the tails. Did this mean that he could eventually look just like him?

_“Yes.” _Came the answer to his unspoken question. _“If you were to transform to have all nine tails, you would look exactly like me.”_

_‘Woah.’_ He thought, still inspecting the changes to his body.

While he was lost in thought, his mother directed her attention to the doctor. “This is all amazing.” She started. “But how exactly is this possible? Neither mine nor my husband’s quirks are anything like this.”

“Well,” Doctor Tsubasa began his explanation. “While most of the time the quirk of the child is a mutated form of one or both of the parents’ quirks, this isn’t always the case. In actuality, the chance exists for it to hold some form of any of their ancestor’s quirks; those genes are still present in them, after all. Given the complexity of your son’s quirk, I’m guessing that he’s drawing from several of his ancestors. And it may be possible that he does have abilities that relate to your quirk, we just don’t know it yet.”

“Okay, that makes sense. But what about this Kurama he’s talking about? I’ve never heard of a quirk creating a whole consciousness.”

“While it is certainly a rare occurrence, it has happened before. It usually occurs with full-body transformations, especially ones mimicking animals. In these cases, the person has instincts that relate to the animal they transform into. Occasionally, these instincts will take on a semi-conscious form, acting as a will separate from that of the person. Even rarer still, are those that manifest a full consciousness. Most of the time, the presence of another consciousness, either full or partial, is due to a quirk adaptation; enabling the person to fully utilize their transformation because their human brain would not normally be able to handle it.”

“I see. Well, so long as there’s nothing wrong with him.”

The doctor laughed at that. “No, no. Of course not. Actually, he’s much better off having the other consciousness than he would be without it. Because, without it there to take some of the burden when he transforms, he wouldn’t be able to use his quirk at all.”

“Alright then.” She directed her attention back to Izuku, who was still lost in his thoughts, talking to Kurama. “Izuku. Is there anything else you want to tell the doctor?”

His attention snapped back to them. He thought for a moment, before replying. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay then, I think that’s all we need to discuss for now. I’ll send you home with the necessary paperwork to go about naming Izuku’s quirk. If you can think of anything else, or if anything new appears, be sure to call me so we can update his quirk registry accordingly.” Then, directing his attention to Izuku, “Izuku. Are you able to release your transformation? To go back to just one tail?”

_‘How do I do that?’_ He asked.

_“Think of it like you’re flexing a muscle. Just relax yourself, relax the muscle, and it will disappear on its own, like how it did yesterday.”_

Following the advice, he let out a breath, releasing his hold on his quirk that he hadn’t been aware of before. In an instant, the extra tails disappeared. The changes to his body that had appeared with them, vanished with their disappearance; the fur around his arms receding and his claws shrinking back to their normal size.

As soon as he was back to his normal form, he felt a wave of exhaustion surge over him. He swayed in place and would’ve fallen had his mother not grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him. She scooped him up into her arms.

“Izuku? Honey? Are you okay?” She asked the now almost-sleeping child in her arms.

“It’s nothing to worry about Ms. Midoriya.” Dr. Tsubasa reassured her. “It’s most likely just exhaustion attributed to his transformation. Most transformation-type quirks drain the stamina of the user. He’s just worn himself out by going a little over what he can handle right now. This will get better as he gets older and practices with his quirk.”

“I see. Thank you, Dr. Tsubasa.” She said, before turning to the door. “I’ll call you if there are any new developments.”

“Yes. Please do.” He responded, a strange smile on his face as he watched them leave.

Izuku’s eyes opened just long enough to see the doctor’s smile as they walked through the door.

_“I don’t like him.”_ Kurama said. _“Something about him seems off.”_

Izuku could do little more than grunt in acknowledgement, before finally falling asleep.

* * *

Doctor Tsubasa watched as Mrs. Midoriya left, with her son in her arms. That child seemed to have a remarkably powerful quirk, and it had only manifested the day before.

He smirked. A quirk like that was sure to be useful.

He reached for the phone on his desk, dialing the number he’d been forced to memorize. It only rang once before being answered. “Hello?” He greeted.

“What have you found?” The voice on the other side said, ignoring his greeting.

“A new quirk. A powerful one.” He responded. “It only just manifested, so I would recommend taking the child first; he could potentially be made to agree with your views on society. However, time is of the essence with this one. At only a day since it appeared, it already seems powerful, and it has the potential to grow much more with time. I would recommend waiting no longer than a year if you wish to act.”

“Very well. We will wait a few months before moving. We have a potential recruit, I will give him this task to test him. Notify me if you find anything else.”

The call ended with that. Tsubasa put the phone back, hardly phased by the lack of praise or a proper goodbye. After serving that man for so long, he was used to such brusqueness.

His thoughts shifted back to the child he’d been observing only minutes ago.

“Izuku Midoriya.” He muttered. “Such an interesting quirk. I wonder what will become of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Izuku. Has. Toebeans!
> 
> And if you want a visual for Kurama, Google him. Just imagine him being green instead of orange, and not angery 24/7.


	3. Rage and Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen. And the plot begins its snail's pace forwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for a chapter that's longer than the first two combined? 
> 
> I almost split it up into two separate chapters but, fuck it.

It was a few months later, and Izuku couldn’t be happier. So much had changed since the day he’d gotten his quirk.

Bakugou hadn’t tried to bully him again after that day. In fact, he hadn’t bullied anyone. He was still prideful to a fault, and thought himself above almost everyone else, but he never actively put anyone else down like he used to. He was even being nicer to Izuku. Izuku didn’t think they were quite friends again, but Bakugou was interacting with him again. He was even including Izuku in his prideful tirades, saying that the two of them were above the rest of the “extras”.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about being told that he was better than other people. But Bakugou was being almost friendly with him compared to his past behavior and he wasn’t bullying anyone, so Izuku was fine with it.

As far as his quirk, with Kurama’s guidance he was able to learn how to bring out his second tail by himself. Now, he could keep it out almost as long as he wanted to without tiring himself out.

Izuku enjoyed talking to Kurama. He would spend as much time as he could in the mind space, which ended up being quite a bit. He’d found out that he could go there while he was sleeping. So, as a result, he’d spent almost every night of the last several months talking to him or, more often than not, simply laying with him, enjoying his soft fur.

Now, he and his mother were walking through an outdoor mall. It was his fifth birthday, and she was taking him to have lunch at his favorite restaurant; an All Might-themed pizzeria.

They were about halfway to their destination when he thought he felt something. A buzzing sensation on the edge of his mind. There were many similar feelings floating around his mind, a result of being around so many people, but this one felt many times stronger than the others. It was similar to the feeling he’d gotten the day his quirk developed.

That was another thing he’d discovered about his quirk; it allowed him to feel negative emotions. If someone was really sad or angry or afraid around him, he could sense and locate them.

However, it didn’t work very well in places like the mall, where there were large crowds of people. This sense worked like a radar; he could sense directions and how far away the person was, but if there was a group of people close together, then he wouldn’t be able to pick out the person.

This was such a case. He looked in the direction of the feeling but couldn’t pick out the source in the crowd of people. He decided to ignore it for the time being; no sense in worrying about it if he couldn’t find the person to help them.

The two of them took a break at the fountain in the middle of the mall, so that Izuku could throw a coin in. The crowd of people broke around them, it was much less crowded there than everywhere else.

He had just thrown the coin and watched it sink to the bottom when, suddenly, he felt the buzzing return even stronger, and heard Kurama yell something in his head that made the hair on his neck stand on end and his blood run cold.

_“IZUKU! BEHIND YOU!”_

He turned around, just in time to see a man rushing straight for him and his mom. The man had greasy black hair that reached his shoulders and everything about them screamed ‘disheveled’. Now that they were out of the crowd, Izuku could tell that this man was the source of the buzzing in his head.

The main things that caught his eye though, was the knife where his hand was supposed to be and his panicked eyes.

Eyes that were looking straight at his mother.

Before he could get so much as a word out in warning, the man was on them. The knife-hand flashed through the air as it flew towards his mother.

He watched in shock as it disappeared into her back, the tip reappearing an instant later as it poked through her chest. Her expression matched his own as she stared down at the foreign object.

Just as suddenly, the knife was pulled from her back, and she collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

The man grabbed Izuku’s arm with his other hand, which was still normal. But Izuku’s eyes were still plastered on his mother, lying prone on the ground in a puddle of red that was growing larger with each passing second.

He snapped back to reality when the man started to drag him harshly back towards the crowd.

No! They were trying to take him away! He needed to help his mom! She was bleeding, and she needed help!

He directed his attention to the man, a second tail immediately sprouting from his tailbone. He grabbed the arm that was dragging him and dug his feet in the ground. This didn’t achieve much though, he was still a child, and the size difference was countering his boost in strength.

Frustrated, he called out in his mind. _‘Kurama! Help me!’_

He didn’t get a response, but as soon as he said that, a third tail joined the first two. He grabbed the arm with both hands this time, razor-sharp claws digging into flesh. The man cried out in pain and turned to look back at him, his expression displaying a mixture of shock and anger. Izuku looked into his eyes and let loose a growl from deep in his throat. A growl that seemed to reverberate through the air.

As he heard that, the man’s expression shifted to one of pure fear; the combination of the look in Izuku’s eyes and the growl having an adverse effect.

The man panicked. This was a monster next to him. One that had his arm in its claws and that looked like it was about to tear his throat out. He reacted, fear driving away any rational thought from his mind. His knife-hand flashed forwards once more.

The same knife that had just been driven through his mother, now plunged through Izuku’s chest. It tore through his heart and barely missed his spine as it emerged from the other side. It was ripped out of him just as suddenly, and he fell to his knees, losing his grip on the man. He heard Kurama _scream _in his mind, a sound that would’ve shaken the very ground had it not been trapped in his mind.

As he fell to the ground, Izuku lost all awareness of the world as his consciousness retreated to safety, deep within his mind. The last thing he heard, before everything faded to darkness, was the sound of Kurama roaring again. Only, this time it didn’t sound like it was only in his mind.

* * *

Kurama _raged_.

The Runt, Izuku, _his kid_. Was dying because of him.

Because he’d failed.

He’d sensed the man almost as soon as they’d entered the mall, their fear and anxiety sticking out like a sore thumb. But he couldn’t do anything about it, he relied on Izuku’s senses to see and observe the world, and he could only do so much to try to locate them. So, he’d decided to simply keep track of the man’s proximity to them, hoping that they’d keep their distance.

But when he’d finally sensed the man drawing closer, he wasn’t fast enough. He’d tried to warn Izuku, but it was too late. By the time he’d turned around, the man was already charging forwards towards the mother. The sight of her being run through had shocked him as much as it had Izuku. Another failure.

Izuku had reacted first when the man started to drag them away, shifting and attempting to break free, so that he could try to help his mother. Kurama had only recovered when Izuku asked for help, and he gave it readily, watching as Izuku dug his claws into the man.

Then, he failed once more as the man panicked, giving up on stealing Izuku and instead attacking him. He’d watched as the man plunged his knife-hand, still slick with the blood of the mother, into Izuku’s chest. He could feel the damage that the blade wrought as it tore its way through. Izuku’s heart was now in pieces.

Finally, as Izuku was collapsing to the ground, Kurama reacted. He pulled Izuku’s consciousness away from the outside world within his own mind. To replace it, he surged forward, ready to take control. He would use his power to heal Izuku and make his anger and frustration known to the world. He would protect his kid. And he would destroy anything that sought to hurt them.

As he emerged into the real world, he took only a moment to adjust to it and the too-small body of his kid. He called forth his power and immediately, all nine tails were present. The body started to grow, dropping to all fours as fur began to cover it, a deep green to contrast the bloodred in his eyes.

Then, once he finished growing.

Kurama _roared_.

He put every ounce of his rage into one sound and let it all loose. The very ground beneath him shook as the world beheld his legendary anger.

He turned his gaze down to the man that dared to attack his kid. They were rooted to the spot.

Kurama hadn’t been able to grow to his true size, that would’ve put too much strain on Izuku, and he was pushing it as it was. But he still towered over the man by several meters.

He pulled a massive, clawed hand back behind him. And before the man could react, it was slamming into him, throwing him to the side and sending him crashing through the glass window of one of the nearby stores.

He barely noticed the other people in the mall screaming as they fled the scene. His tails smashed into the ground around him, shaking the mall as he pulled his head back and let loose another roar. The fountain next to him was in pieces, the water spilling out across the floor.

Moving back to where the mother was lying on the ground, he took up a position standing above her. He couldn’t heal her like he could Izuku. But he could protect her from anyone seeking to do further harm.

This continued for several minutes, raging against the world, daring anyone to even attempt to harm his kid or the mother. Before long, he noticed another man approaching him. This one was huge and had bright, blonde hair sticking up in an odd way. Who was he? Why was he attempting to get closer to them? Something about him stuck out to Kurama; a spark of recognition from Izuku’s memories. He shook his head. No, that didn’t matter; they were approaching him, they were a threat to Izuku and the mother.

Kurama roared at the man, a warning and a challenge. They seemed to falter slightly, before continuing forward. As soon as they were close enough, he pulled his clawed hand back once more, before throwing it forward.

This time, however, instead of launching the man to the side, he only slid a few feet, arms raised to block the blow. The man was clearly strong. Kurama tried once more, only to achieve the same result.

Roaring out his frustration, he tried again. Only, this time, instead of simply hitting the man, he grabbed him as soon as he made contact. With the man within his grasp, he threw his arm out to the side, flinging them through one of the nearby stores as he’d done to the other one.

Before he could announce his triumph to the world, however, the blonde man appeared back in front of him. The only sign that he’d even been thrown at all was his hair, which was now slightly disheveled.

He swung at him again but this time, instead of blocking, the man dodged out of the way.

“Young Man! Wait!” Kurama heard the man call out. “I am here to help you! I don’t wish to fight!”

Kurama faltered. What? This man was here to help them? It was possible; he didn’t feel any negative emotions from the man. He shook the thought from his head. No, he had to protect Izuku and the mother, no matter what.

He fought on, trying his best to land a hit on the man, who kept dodging. But he was limited. He didn’t want to move from his spot standing over the mother. Moving away from her to fight the man would only put her at risk.

After another minute, the man called out again. “My Boy! Your mother needs help! And she can’t get it unless you calm down!”

Kurama stopped, his had frozen midair, where it had been charging towards the man. That’s right. The mother needed help. The reason he was standing guard over her in the first place was because he couldn’t heal her himself.

He shook his head again, dispelling the rage that had been clouding it. Looking back to the man, he finally realized why he’d recognized him. This was a hero. And not just any hero, but the number one; All Might.

They stepped forward and called out, softer this time. “Please, My Boy. It’s time to calm down.”

He relaxed, this man-All Might-could be trusted to help Izuku and the mother.

Letting go of the transformation, he quickly shrank down to the normal form of his kid. Once he was back to normal, he collapsed to the ground. Or, he would have, had he not been caught by the massive hand of All Might. He retreated back to his spot in Izuku’s mind, letting the world fade to darkness.

* * *

All Might sighed in relief as he watched the beast in front of him calm down, and begin to let go of their transformation. As the figure finally returned to normal, he rushed forward to catch them before they fell to the ground.

He took in the small form before him. One of the officers outside the mall had informed him that, according to a witness, the monster that was trashing the mall wasn’t a monster at all, but a kid that was just reacting after he and his mother were attacked. It was still a surprise to see just how young they were though. They looked young enough to have just barely developed their quirk and yet they had such an enormous transformation; one that packed a lot of power behind its punches.

He noted their lack of clothing, no doubt a result of the transformation. Reaching back, he tore his cape off and laid it over the child. His agency wouldn’t like that he’d destroyed his costume, but he deemed it necessary. Then, picking them up and wrapping the cape around them, he took off to the entrance of the mall, where the police were waiting for him to settle matters.

As soon as he was out, he handed the boy off to the paramedics who were waiting nearby. He also informed them of the woman, who he presumed to be the boy’s mother, that was lying injured back in the mall. They wasted no time, carrying the boy into an ambulance, that immediately took off, while others rushed in to find the woman. Several officers followed them in, likely to secure the criminal that had started it all.

Stepping off to the side, he began giving his report to the police officers. He detailed how it seemed like the boy was trying to protect the woman, only attacking him when he got too close.

The paramedics came running out of the mall only minutes later, rolling a gurney alongside them that was carrying the woman. His stomach sank as he heard their panicked voices, shouting things like “not breathing”, “stabbed”, and “no pulse”. He prayed to whatever deities that might be listening that she would be fine. That this child wouldn’t have to lose his mother. That was something that no one should have to experience, let alone a child. Maybe if he’d been faster, either in getting to the scene or in talking the child down, this might not have happened.

He sighed. The world of heroics was, more often than not, not a pleasant one. The very fact that heroes were such a necessary part of life proved that point; that they were needed to fight back the constant tide of villains. There were moments, sure, that it was. The satisfaction that arose at being able to save someone or apprehend a villain or even better, in All Might’s opinion, convince a villain that what they’re doing is wrong. There were certainly plenty of times that made hero work seem like a great path through life.

But then there were moments like this. The times where not everyone could be saved. Even All Might, with all his power, couldn’t save everyone, whether it was in his control or not. It always weighed on him, every failure, every life lost because he wasn’t good enough. The only thing that kept that feeling from holding him down, that stopped it from tearing at his sanity, was the promise he made to himself every time it happened. He would vow to push himself even further the next time, push himself to move just a little faster, punch a little harder, or smile a little brighter. And every time it happened, he would stand as an example to other heroes. Show them that nobody, not even the number one, could be perfect.

That was the thought running through his head as he watched the paramedics clustered around the woman. He saw their grim faces as they ceased their frantic attempts to preserve her life. Instead, placing a sheet over her lifeless body, hiding her from sight.

That was the thought running through his head as he walked to the media presence gathered nearby, attempting to gather some information on what was happening. He would address them, as was his responsibility as the number one hero, the Symbol of Peace and symbol of hope to citizens and heroes alike.

As he approached them, he made another vow. No matter what it took, he would make sure that this child received no blame for what had transpired. It was the least he could do to make up for his failure.

With that, he plastered an even brighter smile onto his face as the reporters began shouting questions at him.

* * *

Katsuki hummed to himself as he focused on the assignment before him. It was math, not his worst subject, but not one that he excelled in. He narrowed his eyes at a question that was giving him trouble as he continued to hum an All Might theme song from an old cartoon.

He had to finish his homework, he was supposed to go see Izuku later; it was the nerd’s birthday. Izuku’s mom was taking him to that All Might pizzeria in the mall for lunch.

A large part of him was glad to be friends with the nerd again. Izuku was the only person that just wanted to be friends with him. Everyone else only wanted to kiss up to him and get on his good side because of his strength and his strong quirk.

And now, Izuku was strong too. Not as strong as Katsuki, obviously, but much stronger than any of the extras in their class. And while Katsuki would never admit it to anyone, Izuku had been right on that day almost half a year ago. He had been acting like a villain, bullying people just for being weaker than him.

He wasn’t quite sure how to be friends with Izuku. He’d stopped bullying him along with everyone else and had started talking to him again, but he wasn’t sure what to do next. Hopefully today would help with that. Katsuki’s mom was going to take him to their house once Izuku and his mom were done with lunch. But for now, he was lying on the floor of his living room, working through his homework while his mom flicked idly through news channels on the television.

This continued for a bit, and he had just reached the end of his assignment, when he heard his mom gasp from her spot on the couch. He looked up at her, to see her staring at the TV, a hand covering her mouth and tears beginning to fall from her eyes. He turned to look at the TV himself, and saw a picture of the nerd and his mom. It was then that he noticed the words of the reporter.

“Earlier today, at the Musutafu Outdoor Mall, there was an unfortunate villain attack which resulted in the death of this woman, who has been identified as Inko Midoriya. Video surveillance has revealed that a man, known as Ryoza Arai, attacked Midoriya, fatally wounding her, and attempted to kidnap her son, Izuku. But when Izuku struggled, he gave up, choosing to attack him as well, seemingly wounding him. This attack triggered a massive, out-of-control use of Izuku’s quirk, a transformative one that Izuku used to incapacitate the attacker. Afterwards, he continued to rampage until All Might himself entered the scene and managed to calm Izuku down, getting both him and his mother into the hands of on-sight paramedics. Izuku has been rushed to Musutafu general hospital but unfortunately, Inko Midoriya was pronounced dead on-scene.”

Katsuki was reeling. Auntie Inko was dead? Why? Why did this happen?

Before his thoughts could spiral too far, the reporter continued. “All Might gave a statement afterwards addressing questions regarding Izuku’s use of his quirk in public.”

The TV cut to footage of Katsuki’s idol, the number one hero. “Let me be clear.” He began, loud voice ringing out. “I do not blame Izuku Midoriya for his actions, at all. Not only is he young; still a child; but he acted the same way anyone would. He and his mother were attacked, and he tried to defend himself and protect his mother.”

All Might paused there, before somehow managing to stand a little taller and flash an even-brighter smile. “In my eyes, Izuku Midoriya is a hero for his actions.”

Katsuki couldn’t believe anything he was hearing. Auntie Inko was gone forever, Izuku was probably hurt somewhere, and All Might, the greatest hero ever, just said that Izuku was a hero. He looked back to his mom, who hadn’t moved at all. “Wha-.” He stuttered out. “Auntie Inko?”

She didn’t respond, simply turning to him with tear-filled eyes. Rushing over to him, she scooped him into her arms, hugging him tight to her chest. They didn’t say anything for a while, Katsuki staring at the TV in shock while his mom cried quietly into his hair.

* * *

“So, what will happen to him?” All Might asked the figure standing next to him. He was standing in Izuku’s hospital room, watching as the child slept on, oblivious to the world around him. It had been a full two days since the incident at the mall, and he was still sleeping.

The figure, dressed in a tan trench coat, responded. “Well, he almost certainly won’t face any sort of punishment. He’s too young to be held accountable for anything. He didn’t hurt anyone, aside from the person who had just stabbed his mother right in front of him. And on top of that, you publicly announced that you don’t blame him and even said that you thought he was a hero. No one’s going to do anything after all of that.”

“That’s good. But what about everything else, Naomasa? The doctors couldn’t get in touch with his father and, as far as anyone can tell, he has no other family.”

“He’ll end up in a foster home.” Tsukauchi said, a bit of sadness in his tone. Foster homes were never a good thing. The system was untrustworthy, or at least unhealthy, at best and abusive at worst. “Of course,” he added, looking over at All Might. “You could always take him in yourself. You’ve already done so much for him; paying for all of his hospital bills and essentially granting him immunity from any criticism he might’ve been facing.”

“I wish I could. I really do.” The hero responded. “But I can’t. He wouldn’t be safe, not with _him_ still out there.”

The detective nodded grimly. He was one of the few who knew about All Might’s secret. About his power and his rival. “Well. I can at least do some extra research and make sure he ends up in a good foster home. The last thing he needs is to go somewhere that will hurt him more than he already has been.”

All Might nodded, agreeing, and they both turned their attention back to the sleeping boy.

* * *

Izuku’s consciousness returned slowly, his vision returning in bits and pieces until he finally realized what he was looking at. It was a night sky. Specifically, it was his night sky, the one in his mind space; clearer and filled with more stars than the real one could ever be. He was lying on his back. Whatever he was lying on, it was soft; softer than just about anything he’d felt before. He turned his head to the side his eyes meeting another pair, much larger and colored a deep red.

“Kurama.” He murmured.

“Izuku.” Kurama breathed out, practically sighing in relief. “You’re awake, good. I thought I’d used to much when I transformed. Are you okay?”

Izuku scrunched his brow in confusion. What was he talking about? Had something happened? “I think so. I’m kinda tired though.” He said, even those words taking more effort than usual.

Kurama chuckled, barely hiding the relief in his voice. “That’s good. Sleep now, Runt.”

Izuku didn’t respond, instead turning and curling into a ball, relishing the feeling of the soft fur as he drifted back into unconsciousness, a slight smile on his face.

* * *

When Izuku awoke again, his mind was much clearer, and exhaustion was no longer weighing him down. He managed to sit up, muscles still aching a bit, as he looked around him. He saw that he was sitting up on Kurama’s back, in between his shoulder blades. The fox in question was, once again, looking back at him.

“Hello Kurama.” He greeted, stretching out as he yawned.

“Hello Runt.” The fox returned. “It’s good to see you awake.”

Izuku hummed in response. “How long was I asleep?”

“I’m not entirely sure, since I was asleep for part of it too. But I think it’s been about two or three days.”

That woke Izuku up the rest of the way. “Two or three days!? Why!? What happened!?”

Kurama sighed, like he was about to explain something difficult. “What’s the last thing you remember, Runt?”

Trying to calm himself down, Izuku thought back. “Well, it was my birthday. We were at the mall. Mom was…”

“Wait! Mom!” He shouted, as everything returned at once. His mother, standing at the fountain, the man with the knife. Then, that knife being shoved through his mom’s chest and then, barely a minute later, his own.

“What happened to her!? Is she okay!?” He reached his hand up to feel his chest. “Am I… Wait. Why am I not hurt?”

“Because I healed you, Runt.” Kurama responded. “After you got hurt, I pulled you back here and took control, like I did the first day I manifested, when you were fighting Katsuki. I used my power to heal you and protect you from that man.”

“And my mom?” He asked, voice shaking as he remembered the sight of her lying in that red puddle.

“I don’t know.” He admitted. “I couldn’t heal her. The most I could do is stop her from getting hurt any more than she was.”

“O-. Okay.” Izuku responded. Hopefully she was okay. “Thank you for saving me, Kurama.”

“Don’t thank me, Runt.” Kurama almost snapped, frustration bleeding into his voice. “I should’ve done better. If I’d been faster, I could’ve taken control sooner and stopped either of you from getting hurt. I could’ve warned you sooner. It’s my job to protect you, and I failed.”

“But you did protect me. Without you, I’d probably be dead.” He retorted.

“I should’ve done better. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.”

“Then do better next time.” Izuku said. “You can’t always be perfect.”

Kurama growled, though it seemed to be more in frustration that anything else, before sighing. “Fine. Next time, I won’t even let them get close enough to touch you.”

Izuku smiled, glad that Kurama was at least agreeing with him.

“Can I wake up for real now?” he asked. “I don’t even know where we are.”

“You’re in a hospital, I think.” Kurama said. “They brought you here after you got hurt. And yes, I’ll help you wake up.”

Izuku smiled again as he felt a slight tugging in his mind, the scenery around him fading to black.

He finally opened his real eyes.

And immediately closed them again. The bright light of…wherever he was…was blinding compared to the darkness of his mind space.

Slowly, he opened them again, squinting until they finally adjusted. He sat up as he looked around, taking in the room he was sleeping in. It was mostly white; the bed he was in, which was very large and comfortable (though not even close to Kurama’s fur), the floor, the walls, everything. There was also a complicated-looking machine next to him that was making beeping noises. Wires were coming from the machine and seemed to connect to something on his hand; like a metal glove but only covering one finger.

As he was looking around the room, the door suddenly opened, revealing a woman. She froze with one foot through the door. “Oh! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” She rushed over to his side.

“Good, I think.” He replied, voice slightly scratchy from lack of use. “How long was I asleep?”

“About three days.” She responded. “You were suffering from extreme quirk exhaustion. You went way beyond what you were meant to at your age. But I suppose, given the situation, it was warranted.”

That reminded him. “Ah! My mom! Is she okay!?”

A certain look entered the woman’s eyes, almost imperceptibly. It was some mix of sadness and pity. She didn’t answer his question, instead standing and making her way towards the door. “Don’t worry. I’m going to go let your guests know that you’re awake.”

Izuku was slightly concerned that she hadn’t answered his question. But she said she was bringing guests. Did that mean his mom? It had to. Who else would be visiting him? He had never even seen his dad before, and Bakugou probably wouldn’t visit him; he’d been getting nicer, but Izuku wasn’t his friend again yet.

He waited for a few minutes, continuing to reassure himself that his mom was fine. Eventually, his door opened again, and in walked a plain-looking man wearing a tan trench coat. And following close behind was…

“All Might!?” Izuku shouted, not believing his eyes. What was All Might, the number one hero, doing here?

“Hello again, My Boy!” All Might chuckled. “You’re finally awake. I hope you’re feeling better.”

Izuku cocked his head in confusion. “I think I am. But what do you mean again? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

It was All Might’s turn to be confused this time. “I- My Boy, do you not remember what happened at the mall? I was there to calm you down.”

“No? I don’t remember that.”

The other man spoke up at that. “It’s okay, Izuku. This is part of the reason why I’m here; to confirm exactly what happened. My name is Detective Tsukauchi. What is the last thing you remember from the mall?”

“That man attacking me and Mom.” He responded. “He hit me and then I fell asleep.” After thinking for a moment, he added. “Kurama said something about taking control after I got hurt, though.”

“Hm? Who’s Kurama?” All Might asked.

“Kurama is listed as being a part of Izuku’s quirk.” The detective explained. “He has a transformation quirk, a pretty large and complex one as you saw. So, as an adaptation to handle it, he developed a secondary consciousness to handle controlling it.” Looking over at Izuku, he continued. “This is what I wanted to confirm; whether your actions were your own. Because if they weren’t, as you’ve now confirmed, then they could be considered the actions of an out-of-control quirk and therefore not something you can be blamed for.”

“Ah, I see. There’s a hero that I’ve worked with before that has a similar adaptation. Though, I don’t think hers was complex enough to completely take control.”

This was all very confusing to Izuku. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about. He just wanted his mom, wanted to know why she hadn’t shown up yet.

“Where’s my mom?” He asked. “Is she okay?”

The two guests’ moods dropped almost visibly. All Might, taking the initiative, stepped forward, kneeling at the side of Izuku’s bed.

“Izuku, I’m sorry, but there’s no easy way to say this.” He took a deep breath. “Your mother. She died. There was nothing they could do for her.”

Izuku’s world dropped out from around him, his surrounding becoming blurred and sounds becoming distorted. He barely recognized that he had started crying, or that All Might had wrapped him into a hug, tucking him against his huge frame.

This continued for some time, All Might hugging him as he let out his despair all while Kurama did his best to comfort him from within.

After a while, he had no more tears to give and his body felt even more exhausted than it had before. He was laying back down in the bed, having not even noticed when All Might and the detective had left.

With his entire world now different, and significantly darker than it was before, he once again faded into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops.
> 
> Sorry Inko, but there are very few ways to add lots of angst and hurt that are better than your death.


	4. A Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet someone new, and they're wanting to start a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays, everyone!
> 
> Hopefully everyone is having a good time with whatever you celebrate.

It was an early Monday morning in the city of Musutafu. The height of the morning rush saw the city’s denizens preparing for the day ahead. Streets were backed up as cars attempted to reach their destination, the sidewalks that bordered them fairing no better as the crowds traversed them. Trains under the city worked endlessly to shuttle people from one end to the other. By all accounts, it was a normal day.

But for one woman, riding one of the many underground trains, this was not quite the case.

On this day, she was not riding the train to get to her place of work, she had taken the day off. Of course, she didn’t even live or work in this city, but that was beside the point. She had taken this day to come to this city for a very specific reason.

The train rumbled to a stop, its doors opening to release the riders onto the platform. After adjusting her dark red hair, brushing it behind her ear, the woman followed suite once a path had cleared.

Once she had stepped out onto the street, and double-checked her direction to ensure she knew where to go, she set off, weaving through the crowds towards her destination.

Her destination was a local orphanage. That was the reason she had traveled so far; she was looking to adopt a child. Now, there were certainly a number of orphanages that weren’t so far away, and she had visited them, but none of the children she had seen had really connected. She was holding out for ‘the one’, the boy or girl that would make her feel, without a doubt, that-that was her child.

She’d been wanting to have a child, to have a family, for some time now, but for various reasons, hadn’t been able to. For starters, her job, with its time requirements and inherent risks, made it difficult to settle down; peace and stability were a rare thing for people in her line of work. As such, she hadn’t really had time to actively date anyone, much to her frustration. She was already in her twenties and she’d yet to meet anyone special.

And obviously, the lack of a husband made the prospect of starting a family that much more difficult. Although getting pregnant, with her job being what it was, would’ve presented a whole other host of complications.

That was what led her to the decision to adopt. If she couldn’t have a child of her own, then adopting one was the next best thing. And really, in some ways, it was even better because doing it this way meant giving a loving home to a child that needed one.

Speaking of, she had finally arrived at her destination. She observed the modest-looking orphanage as she stood in front of the walkway that led up to the building. From the outside, it seemed pleasant enough; much better than some of the others she’d visited. But that wasn’t necessarily indicative of what the inside was like. Some of those others that she’d visited, where the outside appearance would suggest a very poor environment for the children, actually housed some of the happiest children and most-caring caretakers she’d seen. This wasn’t always the case of course, but it was often enough to make her not judge this one by its appearance.

Taking a deep breath, she made her way up the path, knocking on the door once she reached it. A moment later, it was opened and she was met with a young woman with a head of deep brown hair, pulled into a loose bun. The caretaker’s face broke into a bright smile upon seeing who the guest was, and she quickly reached a hand out in greeting.

“Hello there!” She greeted, her cheery voice matching the rest of her demeanor. “You must be the one who was scheduled to visit today.”

“That’s correct. I was hoping to come by and meet with the children.” She responded, taking the proffered hand.

“Of course, of course! Right this way! I’ll take you to them.”

With that, she was led inside. The caretaker began rattling off the usual explanations given by orphanages come to visit their children. She explained the normal routines they had for the children, how the visits normally worked, and what the next steps would be if she found one that she wanted to adopt.

She mostly tuned them out as she observed the inside; she’d heard the explanations many times before and they never varied that much, though she did note that this caretaker listed them off with much more enthusiasm than the others had.

The inside of the building looked just as good, if not better, than the outside. Everything looked to be fairly clean and well-kept; nothing seemed to be broken, or even overly-worn. There were a number of frames on the walls, containing pictures of children; almost all smiling; or paintings that very well could’ve been created professionally. There was even a massive painted mural on one of the walls, depicting a scene of nature; mountains in the background, a number of animals in the foreground surrounding some body of water, and covered in trees everywhere in between.

All in all, this was one of the most pleasant and inviting orphanages she’d visited. And the cheery attitude of the caretaker leading her through the building only served to further cement that opinion.

Soon, the caretaker stopped, having led her to the back door of the building, which led to the grassy back yard.

“You got here at a good time.” The caretaker explained as they stepped outside. “Everyone’s already outside playing. Unfortunately, all of our middle school-age children are at school. But all of the younger ones are off for today, so you’ll get to meet all of them. Feel free to interact with any of them, or just watch as they interact with each other. I’ll be inside if you have any questions for me.”

“Thank you.” She responded, nodding at the woman, before turning to look at all the children in the yard. There were seven in total, the youngest appeared to be around five years old and the oldest somewhere around twelve; likely just shy of middle school. Four of the children were running around, shouting and chasing each other, probably playing tag, or maybe some made-up game known only to themselves. Two were playing in a sandbox nestled against the building. And one lone child, the oldest, was reading alone, occasionally looking up to the group that was playing when their shouts were particularly loud.

She was about to move forward, she would talk to the children in the sandbox first; not wanting to interrupt the eldest’s reading and the group’s playing; but then she noticed another child, previously seen due to how small of a presence they held.

They were small, probably close to being the youngest, and they were tucked into the farthest corner of the lot, curled in on themselves up against a tree. She could make out a head of curly green hair and a fluffy green tail behind them.

She turned back to the caretaker, who had just started to go back inside.

“Excuse me?” She started, curious about the lone child. “Is that kid over there okay? They’re sitting all alone.”

The caretaker looked to the child in question and, for the first time since it appeared, her smile dropped, adopting a more somber air.

“Ah, yes. That’s Izuku Midoriya.” She explained. “He’s more or less been like that since he got here.”

“Why? What happened?”

She shook her head lightly. “It was a real tragedy. A little over a year ago, he was out with his mother to celebrate his birthday, when out of nowhere, a man attacked his mother and attempted to kidnap him. He had to watch his mother die right in front of him.”

She looked back to the child, Izuku, as the caretaker explained. It was such a horrible situation. She should’ve known it wouldn’t be anything pleasant; there were hardly any _good_ reasons for a child to be in an orphanage; but having to watch as your parent was murdered in front of you was among the worst.

“That’s horrible.”

“It really is. And it’s made worse by the fact that he blames himself for what happened.”

That made her turn back in surprise. “What? Why would he blame himself? He’s just a kid.” It was pretty common for people in that sort of situation to blame themselves, even if there was nothing they could’ve done, but this was a _child_. What reason would they have to blame themselves?

“Apparently, Izuku struggled when the man tried to take him away and, for whatever reason, they gave up and attacked Izuku as well. When that happened, Izuku’s quirk went out of control. He attacked the man and went on a rampage, trashing the mall they were at. Eventually, All Might himself went in and managed to talk him down, but at some point before then, his mother had died. He thinks that if only he hadn’t lost control, or if he’d managed to stop the man, then his mother would still be alive.”

She grimaced, that certainly would do it. Almost everyone who blamed themselves for something terrible followed the same train of thought. They were usually wrong, but it was a vicious cycle of ‘what if’s that, once they were stuck in it, was incredibly hard to get out of. To see someone so young caught in that cycle… It broke her heart.

“I’d like to go try to talk to him.”

The caretaker’s smile brightened back up a bit at that. “Feel free. You might have to wake him up though. Most of the time when he’s alone, he’s napping. Part of his quirk gives him a second consciousness, something about taking on some of the strain when he uses his quirk. He’s able to communicate with it, and can even go inside his own mind to do so, though most of the time he ends up falling asleep.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” She responded as she moved forward once more, this time with her eyes focused on the small, green child.

Once she reached the tree where he was curled up, she was noted a few things about his appearance that went unnoticed at a distance. On the top of his head, peaking out from the mess of curls, were two canine ears. They were swiveling around at the noises around the yard. She saw claws on the tips of his fingers, they were pitch black and looked razor sharp. They would’ve been almost menacing, were they not attached to the hands of a very small, very adorable child. One that was curled up with his knees to his chest, arms wrapped around himself as he dozed away with a peaceful expression.

She also saw where he actually had two tails, instead of the one that she’d assumed when she first saw him. Actually, she could’ve sworn that he’d only had one tail. But obviously she was mistaken as the sight in front of her proved otherwise.

Deciding that it was no use simply staring at him, she crouched down closer to his level and called out softly, hoping to wake him up without startling him.

“Hello? Izuku? …Izuku Midoriya?”

She went to reach her hand out, seeking to nudge him awake. But before she could, he lifted his head, blearily looking up at her.

“Huh?” He started, glancing around, attempting to get his bearings after being woken up. “Who?”

“Hello Izuku.” She greeted, with a soft smile on her face. “How are you doing?”

He took a moment to rub his eyes. “M’fine.” He said through a yawn. “Who’re y-”

He froze as his eyes finally focused on her.

“You! You’re-“ He clamped a hand over his mouth, shooting a glance at the other children in the yard. Lowering his hand, he whispered out, “You’re Mandalay.”

That took her by surprise. She hadn’t expected Izuku to be able to recognize her. Sure, she had been recognized before on occasion when she wasn’t in costume, but it was a rare occurrence. She, along with the rest of the Pussycats, was still fairly new to the world of pro heroes, and it wasn’t like they had done much to rise in the popularity rankings.

She smiled a little brighter at Izuku, who was now practically vibrating in excitement.

“That’s right! My name is Shino Sosaki. Otherwise known as Mandalay.”

“So cool…” He said, more to himself. “You’re a part of the new hero team ‘Wild Wild Pussycats’ along with Ragdoll, Pixie-Bob, and Tiger. Your quirk ‘Telepath’ lets you send one-way mental messages to an unknown number of people at unknown distances, well-suited to information distribution amongst the heroes you work with. And-”

Shino let out a small laugh at the stream of information Izuku was mumbling out. He was clearly a hero fanboy. One with what appeared to be a decent level of intelligence. Even if most of what he said was rather basic information that was available to the public, it was still impressive for a six-year-old to know all of that, especially when it was about a relatively obscure hero such as herself.

“Quite the hero fan, aren’t you?”

That snapped him out of it. “Ah! Sorry! I just really like heroes, especially their quirks. And you’re apart of one of the few hero teams in Japan, so I just got excited and I know it’s probably annoying but-”

“It’s okay Izuku.” She assured him, cutting off his apologies. “You’re fine. It was actually a pleasant surprise to be recognized out of my costume.”

Izuku bowed his head, smiling as a small sigh of relief escaped his lips.

“So, you really like heroes, huh?”

In a flash, his head was back up, his eyes practically shining. She noticed then that his pupils were actually slits. Just one more interesting thing about the small boy.

“Yeah! They’re all so cool! They’re always fighting villains and saving people!”

“Who’s your favorite?”

“All Might!” He answered almost immediately. “He’s so strong! And he’s always smiling! But then there’s also others like Vlad King and Nezu! And Endeavor has a cool quirk, but Kurama says he’s a bad person, so I don’t like him as much.”

That was interesting. Sure, Endeavor certainly didn’t seem like the nicest person; maybe a little too rough in his fights, capturing criminals, and he always seemed disinterested in interviews; but saying he was a ‘bad person’ was a pretty strong position to take.

“Who’s Kurama?” She asked. Maybe it was a friend of Izuku’s, maybe another child in the orphanage. “And why does he think that Endeavor is a bad person?”

“Kurama’s my quirk!” He exclaimed. “He’s in my head. And even he isn’t sure why he thinks that. He’s says it’s just a feeling he gets whenever we see him on tv.”

_‘So that’s what the caretaker was talking about when she said he had a second consciousness.’_ This was interesting. Shino wondered what it would be like to have another voice in her head all the time. Would it be nice, never being alone, or would it be maddening? It would probably depend on the circumstance. If someone were to get another voice in their head out of nowhere, then it might be maddening. But Izuku had one as part of his quirk, and got it at a young age, so that he could grow up with it. Under those circumstances, it would probably be quite nice.

“So, what’s Kurama like?” She asked. “Is he nice?”

“Yeah! He’s super nice! He let’s me lay on his head when I visit him. He’s so big and soft and fluffy!”

“Big and fluffy? Is he an animal, then?”

“He’s a fox. A really big one! And he has lots of tails too. They look like mine.” His tails waved around behind him, as if to emphasize what he was saying. “He says that, one day, I’ll be able to have as many tails as him!”

So, his quirk was a transformation then? It would certainly seem that way if he was talking about having more tails. Maybe Shino was right earlier when she thought he’d only had one tail.

“That’s a pretty cool quirk.” She said. “Does anything else change, besides how many tails you have?”

“Yeah. Each tail I get makes me stronger and faster! And the more I have, the more I look like Kurama.”

“That sounds like a powerful quirk. One that would be pretty good for a hero. Is that what you want to do when you’re older?”

She almost regretted that question as she watched his expression fall. He looked down at the ground and pulled his knees a bit closer.

“I – I used to.” He started. “But I don’t think I’d make a very good hero.”

“Why do you think that?” She asked, already having a pretty good idea of what the answer would be.

He paused for a moment. Shino could see tears starting to form in his eyes.

“I couldn’t even save my own mom.” He says, so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. “I should’ve been able to help her, but I couldn’t. It’s my fault she’s gone. What kind of hero can’t even save his own mom?”

There it was. It broke Shino’s heart all over again to see someone so young burdened with so much grief. She moved closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. She needed to help him see that it wasn’t his fault.

“Izuku. Would you like to know something about heroes?”

He sniffed as he looked up at her, tears running down his face.

“They can’t save everybody. No matter how much they want to or how hard they try, there will always be someone they aren’t able to save. Even All Might himself, as strong as he is, isn’t enough to save everyone.”

“R-really?” He asked.

“Really. No one is perfect. No matter how strong or fast someone might be there will always be times where things are out of control, and they can’t do anything about it. And when that happens, it’s not their fault. They did the best they could, tried their hardest, but still failed in the end. And that’s okay; so long as they promise to try even harder the next time.”

“So just like it isn’t their fault, it isn’t yours either. You did the best you could. Okay?”

Izuku wiped at his eyes, turning to look back at the ground. “That’s what Kurama says. He keeps saying that it wasn’t my fault.”

“Then it sounds like Kurama is pretty smart. You should listen to him.”

“He is.” Izuku said, some of his former enthusiasm returning.

“And there’s another way to look at this too.” Shino said. “I know that, if you really believe that something is your fault, it can be hard to think otherwise. So, until you can believe that it wasn’t your fault, instead you can promise yourself that you’ll do better next time.”

He seemed to think about those words for a moment. Then, almost muttering to himself, “So, even though it’s my fault, I should become a hero so that I can other people where I couldn’t help Mom?”

That wasn’t quite what Shino meant, but it was better than focusing on the ‘what if’s, and hopefully it would make it easier for him to realize later that it really wasn’t his fault. She could see a new, determined light enter his eyes with his new mindset. Something in her chest clenched at the sight.

Oh. _Oh._

This was the feeling. The one she’d been waiting for. Izuku was the one.

Once he paused his muttering spree to take a breath, Shino spoke up.

“Hey Izuku.” She started, waiting for him to look up at her. “Do you know why I came here today?”

He cocked his head at her. “You came here to adopt someone, right? That’s the only reason that new people come here to visit.”

He pointed at the older child; the one who was reading. “You could pick Tokuda. He’s really nice. You’d probably like him.”

She let out a giggle at his actions, so pure. He didn’t even consider himself, instead thinking of one of the other children first.

“Actually Izuku, if you’d like, I was actually thinking about adopting you.”

His head whipped back to her; eyes wide. “Me!?”

“That’s right. It’s obvious that you’ve got a good heart. You’re a nice kid, and I want to give you a home.”

She waited a moment as she watched her words sink in. “So, what do you say?”

Instead of answering, Izuku practically launched forward, wrapping his arms around her. Her own arms returned the gesture a moment later.

She could hear fresh sniffling. Then, softly, “T-thank you, Mandalay.”

“You’re welcome, Izuku. And please, call me Shino.”

His response was somehow even softer. “Thank you, Shino.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the conversation between Mandalay and Izuku about his mom’s death might seem a bit too mature for a six-year-old, but Izuku is already a smart kid, and I like to imagine that having Kurama in his head makes him a bit smarter. Plus, promising himself and his mom that he’ll do better gives him his motivation to be a hero.
> 
> Also, something to think about for the future: Who’s going to get OFA?
> 
> Izuku is, of course, an option. If he gets it, then I’ll probably go the route of giving him a ‘golden mode’ similar to Naruto’s golden chakra mode. It would end up making him more OP than he already is, but a possible drawback would be that it makes it easier for him/Kurama to get out of control.
> 
> Otherwise, my top options are either Mirio (in which case we would almost never see OFA mentioned at all) or Ochako.
> 
> If she gets it then, in addition to the raw strength, her own quirk would be enhanced. It would greatly increase her weight limit (though probably making the drawback even worse if she goes over it. Maybe.) and give her the ability to increase gravity instead of only taking it away.
> 
> Let me know what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a twitter: @Dragoneel7
> 
> Feel free to use it to contact me for any reason, be it for questions about fics or just to yell at me for something.


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